[Infographic] Dissecting the WordPress Plugin Profile

As the world of WordPress becomes increasingly popular, plugin developers only have a few micro-seconds to capture someone’s attention when the prospective user is searching for new plugin to fill a need. Today, With over 32,786 plugins in the repository, there’s definitely a lot more choices – and a lot of plugins that create similar functions and do them well.

Building a plugin is simply more than just writing code, it’s also about building great documentation and descriptions that make users want to use your code.

I’ve created this infographic on writing WordPress plugin descriptions as a reminder for all of the Word’s great plugin developers. While we all value you contributions to the WordPress project, please also work on creating great descriptions that will help us understand exactly what value you can bring to our WordPress sites.

{Please click the image to view as media attachment if text is a bit small}

Here’s the copy from the infographic if you find this a bit easier to read:

Important Copy Elements:

1. Build a Great Title

Something descriptive, yet catchy, of what the plugin can do for the user. Try to use terms that will help a user find your plugin in the WordPress plugin search. Don’t make it too long.

2. Craft a Strong Short Overview

This is probably one of the most important pieces of copy for the plugin as it is likely the one and only paragraph someone will read before they make a decision. It is also the description that shows up on a search and archive page.

3. Visually frame the Plugin Description

Keep this section concise and useful to your reader. Write copy that will compel them to want to try your plugin out and use realistic examples of how someone might implement the plugin and what they will get after they click activate. Remember, no one really reads but likely skims for visual cues and copy that grabs their attention. (Did you notice the cue?) Divide long copy up into short short digestible chunks and use headlines inbetween paragraphs to help readers skim. Benefits of great copy can help reduce support requests, encourage social media sharing and lead to greater number of downloads. Don’t be afraid to leave your readers with a call-to-action such as rate my plugin or please write a blog post about it!

4. Tell a Story with Screen Shots

Screenshots are a great way to show users how your plugin can help them. Organize screenshots in ways that tells a story of how the pugin works. I often go immediately to the Screen Shot tab after skimming the description page. Remove excess from the shots when possible.

5. Make a useful Installation

Page Don’t just stick with the basics, make sure to outline anything that a user might need to know immediately after they install your plugin. It’s ok to duplicate important information on more than one page. The more the readers finds, the fewer support requests you will need to fill.

6. Change your Changelog

Changelogs are very helpful to everyone. Keep it up and use as much detailed as possible but be concise. Avoid “bug fixes”.

7. Build out FAQs

Frequently Asked Questions can also be a way to nicely form documentation for your plugin. Even before the questions roll in. Think like a user might think and start pre-writing questions and answers. Give a way for users to contact you to ask!

Scrollmap

Put your best content first! Think about how the page loads and where the majority of eyes land. A user might change pages before they get too far down the description. Also, think about the “fold” or where the page cuts off on the screen at first load. Add cues to help draw a reader down the page further.